The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-02-27
The FREE and EASY BALL
AT WHICH TIE DEALM0SDINES
HAVE A CHANCE,
Poor Thugs to Elevate Their Heels
aud show rteir Anatomy 10
Advantage.

New York, February 25-The
Arion Musical Society had its an
nual ball the other evening in the
Metropolitan Opera House: Like
the French ball at the Academy o.
Music it attracted a great crowd. Ii
was easier getting about, however
for at the Ariou there was no highly
immoral kicking on the dance floor
There was considerably smaller
number, therefore, OF those who
came merely to look on and enjoy the
folly of others. Dancing at the
French ball was farce after mid
night; the floor was so crowded that
the hilarious danes could not even
kick to advantage; at the German
ball. on the other hand-for the
Arion Society is Teutonc organi.
zation-people danced in earnest and
enjoyed themselves up to 8 o'clock in
the morning. But it was queer
mixture-the crowd, its various
amusements and its diverse ways of
looking at its own acts, There were
first the eminently respectable peo-
pie connected with the society by
direct membership or family rela-
tionship. The men enjoyed them
selves in their ponderous German
way, masquerading in fantastic and
absurd costumes and playing all
manner of pranks with one
another. The slender women
danced indeiatigably and the corpu-
lent women sat in the balconies or
in chairs ranged round about the or
chestra floor, and looked stolidly on.
There were next a fair number of
people not connected with the society,
who took in the affair for a good
time, knowing that there would be
some features of a questionable
nature in the entertainment. These
kept their masks on from one even
ing's end to the other, at least the
women did. The holder men re-
moved the uncomfortable disguise
early, and faced the world without a
blush. Then there we're the men
about town, and shall we say women,
about town. There were lots of
them, call them what you will, aud
they made the scene brisk and risky.
There costumes were, as rule, very
decollete of course, but eminently
proper, judged by the canons of So
ciety. And yet many of them ex-
hibited in their dress sense of
decorum and knowledge of the fit
ness of things that was surprising.
1t was possible to recognize many
young ladies who had graced the
French ball and similar occasions
this winter clad with view solely to
indicate display, dressed now with
an evident desire to appear modest
aud respectable. Some Of them car
ried their parts so well that they
danced in the same sets with the
proper maskers and the jolly Ger
mans without rousiDg suspicion.
Generally, though, the two classes
were divided into different sets, and
The contact of the pure with
the impure was only accidental, as
the movements of the dance brought
the participants into collision. 1t
was probably the same sense Of the
fitness Of things that led the lnde-
pendent young women to leave the
floor pretty much to the Germans
and congregate in the winerooms.
There they drank to excess, if they
we're so fortunate as to secure the at
tentions of men with long purses.
They went into the private boxes also,
and it seemed odd to see in the APP
artments occupied every other night
by the elite of swelldom in attend
ance upon the opera, groups OF men
and women emptying champagne bot
ties and behaving in many cases with
all the abandon that characterized
the wineroom. The AstOrs and the
and the Belmonts, and
all that ilk, be it known, engage their
Foxes at the Metropolitan by the
season, and framed directory hangs
in the foyer Of each tier, in which is
inscribed in big letters the numbers
Of the boxes and the name or names
Of the corresponding owners. 1t is
safe to say that not a box on the
night of the Arion ball escaped being
turned into wineroom, and many of
hem were the scenes Of proceedings
Of a hilarious, bacchanalian nature.
There was some measure of com
fort in attending this ball, for the
crowd of stupid, disgusting specta-
tors in the most ordinary dress is
not attracted to it. Everybody goes
either in full dress or en- masque. |
would try to describe the brilliant
picture with its salient features If
he English language we're capable
If it. The fact is that such an event
cannot be told in English; the
proper, perhaps | ought to say i'm
proper, words are not in the voca-
oulary. If | we're only writing in
French, how graphic it would be to
Jay that all the world was present,
md that, moreover, the half world
,ame also. The half wOrld-it con-
7eys no particular shock to the SEN
and it is possible to des-
tribe its doings without violating the
of written discourse. To
many of the people who went to the
Arion it was a pleasant occasion,
rom which they derived a deal OF
innocent enjoyment and recreation.
If they were conscious of the pres
,nce Of the half world they accepted
t as q necessary evil attendant upon
/ big public ball. But l noticed
hat such people kept their distance
rom the refreshment rooms, and if
hey huugered and thirsted they
either got on without food and drink
,r slipped nervously into a place
hear the kitchen, snatched morsel
,r q drop and hurried away again
% the ballroom floor. Not that they
we're SO overpowered by q desire to
lance but that the scenes in the re-
freshment rooms are little too pro-
lounced for the equanimity of even
/ liberal German. 1t seems to me
hat these respectable people must
nave found entertainment scarce this
winter to submit thus to the sacrifice
IF their proper emotions. Neverthe-
ess they were the most reasonable
present outside the members
d the half world. For the others,